People jumping ship while others seek refuge in false equivalents. See them; scrambling for “get out of jail cards” using the excuse they didn’t know or see what was never far from obvious. Alongside this, the deafening silence of many who had so much to say not many months ago!

We all came under attack this week. This was freedom under attack. It was the collective will of the people under attack. People died because some want democracy and freedom to be a lot more bespoke in its outputs and outcomes. It scares, but doesn’t surprise me, to see that many voices raised in outrage over statues cannot even do a squeak over the attempt to overthrow the concept and institutions that allow all of us the space to get angry and the forums to do something about it without fear.

However, the tragedy is not that it happened at all. The real and dangerous tragedy is that the badness, madness and sadness were allowed to ride because so many saw opportunities and advantages in all that was going on.

Given that we should all now be clear about who we have aligned ourselves with, it then comes pretty damn close to being a simple matter of “show me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are”.

© Othame Kabia